“I was never not happy when I left. There were situations and times at the end where I knew that what we had on the field wasn’t meeting the expectations, but that never deterred my love for the players, the student athletes, and the game.” – Marshall baseball coach Greg Beals. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
His homecoming drew a crowd to the old ballpark and a large contingent of local followers from Huntington. Greg Beals return to Ohio State proved successful Wednesday with an 11-7 come-from-behind win over the Buckeyes.
Columbus, OH – Greg Beals shook a lot of hands Wednesday afternoon, and evening, including my own.
There were a lot of hugs.
Slaps on the back.
And smiles.
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Returning to Bill Davis Stadium for a 6:05 mid-week game with Ohio State for the first time since being fired in 2022 as coach of the Buckeyes for the sake of “change”, Beals, now the coach at Marshall University of the Sun Belt Conference, did his best to make it a memorable moment for as many people as possible. Always one of college baseball’s most personable, he made the most of his time.
“It’s really good to see you,” he said to me as we met behind the batting cage during the Thundering Herd’s pre-game batting practice. “But I wish Greg Hoard could be here, too. That man was special.”
Hoard was the former Cincinnati Enquirer beat writer for the Reds, who upon retirement helped launch Press Pros beat coverage of Ohio State baseball in 2014.
“What a guy,” Beals laughed. “He was intelligent. And he was a little rough on the edges at times in our conversations, which made me know that he was a real guy. But he just loved what he was doing – he loved to write about games, and he loved to write about people, I think even more. He brought a personal touch to covering baseball.”
It was Hoard who once said, after covering the Reds for nineteen seasons, that he would rather talk about baseball with a college coach like Greg Beals than Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda.
Former OSU coach Greg Beals shares lineup pleasantries with current coach Justin Haire prior to Wednesday’s ‘homecoming’ at Bill Davis Stadium.
“Beals just has that grass roots feel,” Hoard would laugh. “When you talked with Lasorda after a game he wanted to tell you about how many tickets he left for Frank Sinatra. Beals talks about little boys’ dreams about playing baseball. I think he’s still living the dream, himself.”
In his fourth season as the coach at Marshall, the former Springfield native and WBLY American Legion ball alumnus – along with being a Kent State alumnus and minor league catcher in the Mets system – is in the midst of a rebuild with Thundering Herd baseball not unlike what he undertook at Ohio State when he replaced the retired Bob Todd in 2011. In twelve seasons with the Buckeyes he won 345 games, lost 288, and guided the Buckeyes to Big Ten Tournament championships in 2016 and 2019, and NCAA regional berths in 2016, ’18, and ’19.
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Taking over at Marshall in 2023, he suffered through back-to-back 18-win seasons in 2023 and ’24 before finishing 33-26 in 2025, and tied for fourth in the Sun Belt Conference. He has been enthusiastically received in Huntington, West Virginia as ‘its’ baseball coach…because Marshall sports in Huntington – all sports – enjoys the following and community appreciation in the manner that Ohio State football does in Columbus.
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“Baseball was always popular at Marshall and people went to the games,” says alumnus and long-time friend, Danny Huff. “But back then you had to go to a city park and sit on a folding chair to watch the game through a chain link fence…or you had to drive to Charleston and the old ballpark there. Now they have that beautiful new stadium on the riverfront, and they have Beals. Everyone loves Beals.”
“We’re fortunate to have him, that’s for sure,” Marshall athletic director Gerald Harrison said of Beals Wednesday, who just happened to make the trip up route 23 Wednesday to watch in person. “He’s a good man and he’s helped me understand baseball’s situation and priorities. Happy to have him as our coach.”
Which is no surprise, given that any given person from Huntington you asked Wednesday pretty much echoed Harrison’s sentiments.
“He’s genuine,” said one.
“He’s out in the public with his team,” another added. “He understands Marshall and what it means to Huntington.”
And if you know him, it comes as no surprise that Beals still has a feel for baseball and Bill Davis Stadium…and what it means at Ohio State.
“I’m impressed with what they’ve done with the ballpark,” he said, surveying the landscape. “They’ve obviously invested some money in baseball, and this facility in particular. “It’s still a premier ballpark in the conference, and a first-class one.”
“I have great support from our administration and athletic department is behind me and behind this baseball program.”
Something that Beals took with him to Huntington with the building of Marshall’s $25 million dollar Jack Cook Field that opened in 2024 – a facility that lacks for nothing and affords ample expansion opportunities for the future.
“I learned a lot here,” he shared. “You think about the twelve years I spent. We put turf down, we padded the outfield fences, we redid the scoreboard, we redid the clubhouse…which gave me knowledge and experience to share with building the ballpark in Huntington.”
And now to the task of building a baseball program, not unlike what he built in Columbus, and what most of his knowledgeable peers expect him to do, and soon, at Marshall, despite its location as the northern-most member of the Sun Belt Conference. And with schools like former NCAA champion, and current runner-up Coastal Carolina, South Alabama, Southern Mississippi, and Texas State.
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“And that revolves around core values for me,” he relates. “I love recruiting high school players. I love the developmental part of college baseball. I’ve made a living off player development, and I’m going to continue to do that. The Sun Belt Conference is one of those be-careful-what-you-wish-for situations because I wanted the big attractions to come into Marshall, and that elite competition has been every bit of what I wanted when we put down our goals for the program.”
His departure from Columbus in 2022 came as a shock, both for the respect he enjoyed as one of the Big Ten’s tenured coaches, and for the timing of trying to rebuild after Covid. His popularity in the OSU baseball community was still evident Wednesday…for the number of people, including former players, who showed up to greet his return and wish him well.
There were those who questioned, after losing his dream job at Ohio State, whether he would ever be happy again?
“I was never not happy when I left,” he said, sorting the context of his words. “There were situations and times at the end where I knew that what we had on the field wasn’t meeting the expectations, but that never deterred my love for the players, the student athletes, and the game.
“And I’ll be happy coaching baseball wherever,” he smiled. “But I’m incredibly happy at Marshall University. I have great support from our administration and that starts all the way at the top with our president, Brad Smith. The administration within the athletic department is behind me and behind this baseball program, and I mean all the way. We’ve built the ballpark, and now we’re in the process of building the program and I feel a big part of doing both. We’ve come from the bottom of the conference to the top half of the conference, and we’re going to continue to climb that ladder.”
“I’m ecstatic to have him in the program and he’s a prime example of our player development. Braylon has a bright future in this game and in our program.” – Greg Beals on Russia High School recruit Braylon Cordonnier
And of course, Beals’ love for player development would lend local Press Pros readership to wonder about one of their own. Russia High School’s (Shelby County) Braylon Cordonnier is one of his prized freshmen in the class of 2026.
“Braylon’s an incredibly talented young man,” he smiles. “I’m ecstatic to have him in the program and he’s a prime example of our player development. I’m excited about his future. Injury has slowed him down here in his freshman year, but he’s got a very bright future in this game and our program.”
As for the game itself, Ohio State’s bats and home runs by Henry Kaczmar and Dane Harvey staked the Buckeyes to a 6-3 lead by the start of the sixth inning. But the on-again, off-again work of the bullpen proved to be the Buckeyes’ achilles heel, allowing 8 Marshall runs on 7 hits over the final four innings, culminating with 4 in the eighth and 2 in the ninth.
“It was an enjoyable evening,” Beals shared afterwards, not without a hint of double entendre.
And a pleasurable one for Herd followers on their way back down route 23 afterwards to Huntington, no doubt.
Waverly is a wonderful stop on a Wednesday after a win.
And for Beals, the Buckeyes were still a good memory – the perfect start for a weekend road trip to South Alabama.
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